


‘His Stolen Heart still Beats’ but does that mean he’s gone?

by I_need_Coffee_and_Linkeduniverse



Category: LinkedUniverse - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Basicallt two souls sharing a body, Basically Deity took over Time's body, Deity's having a break down, FD is a good dad, Ghost/soul of hero of Time, Thought he was time, everyone is worried, he didn't know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:34:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25053232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_need_Coffee_and_Linkeduniverse/pseuds/I_need_Coffee_and_Linkeduniverse
Summary: Based off Glau fic of 'His stolen heart still beats' (https://archiveofourown.org/works/24532123) and while I love it; my heart is weak to character death angst. So I wanted to expand on the idea and take it in my own direction. Hope you enjoy.
Relationships: Fierce Deity & Link (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 166





	‘His Stolen Heart still Beats’ but does that mean he’s gone?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Glau (Glaucus_Atlanticus)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glaucus_Atlanticus/gifts).
  * Inspired by [His Stolen Heart Still Beats](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24532123) by [Glau (Glaucus_Atlanticus)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glaucus_Atlanticus/pseuds/Glau). 



Deity was what he had now taken to calling himself, he wasn’t Link, he wasn’t the Hero of Time, he hadn’t earned those titles. He still responded when the boys call him such but the thought of referring to himself by any other title made his stomach do flips. 

He only limited his time to thinking about the Hero of Time at night, when no one else was awake. Tears always gathered in his eyes as past memories from the small boy began to play. The pain was not his own, but he felt it, he felt the boy's fear, his abandonment, his hope, his desperation and his dying breath. Even as he ran through his brain trying to find answers, Why had he taken the boy's body? Did he pass away as he put on the mask? Did he just give up before taking if off allowing him a new body? Did...did the Deities power consume the weak soul?

Either way it was very clear the Deity known by others as Time wasn’t getting a lot of sleep at night. Any night that wasn’t spent trying to hold back tears was staring at the empty mask he had once called home.

During the day he still acting as the loveable Time the links had all gotten to know. He helps Wind with sword fighting, watching Wild cooking, messing with Twilight. To the Links he hadn’t changed one bit, the only thing that had changed was Warrior’s relationship towards him.

The young captain hadn’t been lying about taking on the big brother role. He was the first one to notice the effects of Time’s late night thinking parties, his pale skin, the bags under his eyes, how his weight seemed to be going down. He had to admit that War was a very good big brother.

Some part of him screamed this wasn’t his life, that it belonged to someone else. Deity knew this and wished there was a way to change it.

But that was just wishful thinking isn’t it?

Time’s only concern was keeping the boys safe, they would live longer lives, they would be happy. They would be happy and ignorant while Deity would take his secret to the grave. 

He should have remembered about Hyila, that goddess had despised him long before time even started. He should have taken into account all the wars that happened during his time, all the misfortune that took place as he lived a life that wasn’t rightful his. He should have known by the moon children's cryptic messages.

‘What is your true face?’

The cave he had been exploring with the boys was something entirely new, from what Wild has translated it was called ‘the cave of souls’ so most assume it was some type of burial ground. It had been easy to see traps with the lens of truth and finding a map, they seemed to reach what was a big open burial chamber. 

Hyule of course touches the big glowing gem in the center causing everything to light up. The links jumped back with their sword at ready, not knowing what Hyrule had unleashed. The tension stayed until a voice finally broke it.

“It is alright Master” a robotic voice called from the room. Soon a figure jumped out of Sky’s sword, she was blue with no arms.

“FI!” Sky screamed as he threw his arms around the figure, her blue robotic face broke into a small smile. The light-hearted chosen hero finally released the spirit and turned to speak to the group of shocked heroes still pointing swords.

“Guys its ok, this is Fi the spirit of the master sword” Sky stated causing the other heroes to put away their swords. Wind and Wild ran up to the blue spirit chattering away causing the spirit to smile. The other heroes getting closer to try and talk to the spirit. Time stood by the entrance, making sure they weren’t going to get an ‘unknown’ visitor while the boys were happily talking to the sword spirit.

“Fi, these are all the heroes, I’m sure you know most of them,” Sky said to the spirit. Fi’s face faulted to a frown.

“Not everyone here is a master” Fi stated causing some of the links to freeze, Wild head fell as he remembers being rejected by the sword.

“Fi! we are all heroes chosen by the goddess Hyila, why would you say something so cruel?” Sky asked, he knew Fi was blunt but never expected her to be mean.

“But it is the truth master, One of the heroes in here isn’t a hero selected by hyila, it’s someone using his body” Fi explained matter of factly causing all the links to freeze up. They had expected Fi might not like all of them, to be fair not all of them like her but what she just said, there was someone else using the hero's body? That can’t be true.

“Fi, stop this isn’t funny. No one here isn’t a hero, we wouldn’t be traveling together otherwise” Sky said trying to defused the situation. Fi said nothing but just turned to face Time. The elder hero said nothing but just started at the sword, however Fi knew the spark didn’t belong to the child she fought alongside with.

“Go on demon tell them who’s body you took”

I wonder…

“Tell them who you really are, what you really are”

The face under your mask….

“Did you consume his soul as well? Demon”

Is that…your true face?

The boys looked at their older hero mixes of shock, confusion and horror was written across their faces. Time wasn’t doing any better, a face of horror as tears fell down his face. None of them could believe what Fi had said, but Time’s reaction spoke more than her words.

“Time?” Warrior whimpered out which broke the older hero, who turned around and bolted out the door.

“TIME!” Someone screamed out.

The hero, no the Deity, ran through the dungeon, he couldn’t do this, even as a god of war he couldn’t face the challenge of seeing the boy's disappointed looks as he explained the truth. Finally he found an empty room and slammed the door to it, locking himself alone in the glowing chamber.

He was alone, yet he wished he wasn’t. He slowly leaned back on a pillar as he tried to control his breathing. He didn’t consume the little hero's soul, did he? He didn’t know what happened, even after defeating Majora he never felt the tug of being pulled back into the mask. He didn’t consume the souls of the little one, he wouldn't! But...but what if he did?

His breathing and tears became more rapid, what if he did? If he did? What if he did?

“You didn’t” a voice said snapping the Deity out of his panic causing him to stop his harsh breathing to look up.

There was Link, the hero of time right in front of him.

He was still as small as the day he put on the deity mask, the only change was that his skin was paler.

“.....Little one?” Deity muttered out slowly getting closer to the boy.

“That you for saving me” The hero of Time stated to the god. The Deity broke with more tears and grabbed the young boy for a hug; he was a solid like the sword spirit. 

“..I’m sorry...I’m so sorry” The Deity whimpered out into the young boy’s hair, he just simply hugged back. “I’m sorry I stole your body”

“You didn’t steal my body, you save it” The hero said pulling back from the god “I wouldn’t have survive if I had taken off the mask, if I had taken control, I would have died”

The Deity smiled through the tears “Where have you been?”

“I’ve always been with you, I’ve seen everything; I just watch through the back of our mind. I never left you.” The hero of Time said with a smile “You try sharing a body with a god”

Both laughed as the Deity reached around to grab the mask, his old home.

“Then let's make the universe right” The deity said before watching the hero’s face turn into one of confusion “Your soul is healed..Your body is healed, you can have your life back. You can have the life you deserve with Malon and the boys” The deity said trying to fight back tears “I’ll go back to the mask”

The Deity watched as the little hero's face lit up, he knew two souls in one body would never work, his soul would always overpower the original. He handed the mask to the little hero, all he had to do was put the mask over the Deity and he would be forced back in.

However that didn’t happen.

The little hero took the mask with a smile…..before breaking it over his knee.

The crack of the wood immediately shook the deity to his core. The child seemed to not be worried as he dropped both hafts of the mask on the floor.

“What are you doing?!” The deity screamed as he picked up both pieces. This mask was his prison, it was the only thing strong enough to hold his spirit..maybe, maybe they could find another? But this sets everything back.

“Why would you do that?” The deity asked the hero of time.

“I’ve grown tired of that body, I have sense I turn 12. I don’t want it back” Young Link said with a confidence he has never heard from the boy. No this can’t be the case. Link had never spent centuries trapped in a mask, he doesn’t understand how lucky he was to have a life, a life where so many people loved him.

“Little one you don’t understand” The Deity said grabbing the boy’s face forcing him to look the older ‘hero’ in the eyes “I’ve spent years in that mask taken from the ones I love. You are so young, you shouldn’t be living your life through someone else’s eyes. You should be with Malon, with the boys, you should be happy.”

“I am happy” Young Link said trying to look away, he could never look someone in the eyes while lying.

“No you're not, you're scared” The deity said moving some of the hair out of Link’s face “You're scared because of what your life was. It was pain little one, I know, but it gets better. You have Malon, and Twilight and so many people that love you”

“But can you stand it?” Young link asked.

“What do you mean?” The Deity replayed.

“Being away from Malon and the boys” Link said, causing the Deity to freeze. “I can see it in your eyes, you love her, you love the boys. Could you survive alone in that mask again?”

The Deity wanted to say he could, he wanted to do anything to get the little one back in his rightful body...but he could bring himself to lie to him. He had grown to love Malon, to love the boys, it’s why he ran after all. Eventually he was able to speak “No..i won’t be happy in the mask...but i can’t be happy knowing you are stuck without a life.”

Both stood there in silence trying to figure out what to do, what to say next. Deity swore he could hear something moving in the background but he chose to ignore it. The deity was trying to think of anything, before an idea came to mind.

“I still have my power, and I could use them if I focus...I could make you a new body, no pain or anything like that. You could come live with me and Malon, you could be our son” The Deity offered “We can both be happy this way”

The young child smiles at the idea, maybe they could both finally get peace they need.

Sadly it was never that easy.

A loud crack brought the Deity and child out of their thoughts, the deity looked up to see the glowing crystal that had given the room light now had an arrow in it, cracking it slowly. Deity could see the cracks starting to appear on young Link. It appears that the solid spirit could only stay around if the gem was there.

It shattered and soon the spirit of Young Link shattered as well before flying back inside the Deity. He knew that the young boy's spirit was safe but it still broke his heart, he could see some shock faces and the shadow of the sword spirit.

“NO! No what did you do?!?!” Deity screamed out in anger, he could feel his body shift into his god form “Bring him back!!” He screamed before it turned into sobs “Please bring him back..”

The group of heroes couldn’t say anything, all they had saw was a little hero fade away in front of the man they had come to know as Time. Seeing his form shift with his anger, into a man easily double his height with glowing white eyes shook a lot of them to their core, but the fear turned to pity as the man started to weep. Even Fi who had been observing from the other room, less she disappear like the other figure, and was now starting to question her numbers.

They just stood in shock as the man cried.

They had been able to see Time talking to Young Link in the room through a window, the only way in was shattering the crystal; which had resulted in the situation at hand.

Warrior was the first to enter the room, he had been the closest to Time, especially since he found out he was the young child he fought alongside, even now the monstrous form he had taken in his anger was familiar.

“Time?” War tried as he touched the ‘older’ hero’s shoulder, the man immediately justed back hitting the wall, his breathing heavy; which Warrior recognized.

“Time, you're having a panic attack you need to calm down” Warrior commented.

“Don’t...don’t call me that” Time hisses out the captain, War nodded and just held the other hero. The other heroes started to slowly walk in as well, only Sky with Fi opting to stay back. The Deity could feel himself shifting in War’s arms, he could hear a childlike voice in the back of his head telling him to calm down.

He didn’t know how long time had passed before his breath and thoughts finally began to slow down. He could feel himself shift back to normal, his breathing was normal.

‘You’re gonna have to explain yourself now’ Young Link said in his head. The Deity looked at all the Links with hurt and confused faces, yep it’s time to explain things.

“Time...I think we need to talk,” War said softly.

“Yes, we do” The Deity said.

They exited the ‘cave of souls’ leaving without Fi, they had decided to set up a campfire close by. The Deity tried to ignore the shifting of the other links eye’s but he really couldn’t blame them; they were lost and confused and wanted answers. Finally as everyone got settled down the Deity decided it was time to answer the questions he knows the boy has.

“I own you an explanation don’t I” the Deity said with a half hearted smile.

“Yeah ya do old man” Legend said causing him to be shushed by the other links. Deity took a second to swallow his fear.

“I’m not the Hero of Time” The Deity said and the heroes shocked faces make it very clear they didn’t believe him “But i didn’t mean to lie to you...I honestly didn’t know, I thought I was”

“..Time what does that mean?” Wind asked to the older ‘hero’.

“My real name isn’t Time, I don’t know my true name anymore” The older man said as he pulled out the two hafts of the mask “This..this used to be my home”

“What?” Someone said but Deity didn’t know who asked.

“I was a Deity imprisoned in a mask in my realm..the little hero came into my realm it was being terrorized by majora...my sister. Majora destroyed the hero, hurt him horrible in the battle to the point he was forced to put on my mask. His body and spirit were so hurt..that if i didn’t take his body he would have died” Time..no the Deity explained.

‘W..what happened to the Hero of Time..Did he die?” Wind squicked out, not knowing how he could deal with his hero meeting that fate.

“He didn’t die..his body is the one i am inhabiting. His spirit is still here” Deity said as he brought his hand up to his heart “His soul is still in the body, but I am a god..a human soul doesn’t have a chance of taking control.” The Deity explains.

“So you took his body?” Legend said in anger.

“I didn’t mean to!” Deity said as tears fell down his face “That’s why i was doing everything to try and convince him to put me back in the mask. I..I love life outside the mask but i can’t be happy knowing the little one doesn’t get the chance to live life” Deity soon turned to face the ground “..I didn’t mean to”

The heroes just glance at one another as the words of the deity slowly sinked in.

“If his soul is in there with you, and you want him to take back control, why don’t-...didn’t you go back to your mask?” Twilight asked, changing his words as he got a look at the two hafts.

“I tried to, I really did...but the little one broke it,” Deity whimpered out as he put his head in his hands “I know it isn’t my body, and i tired i tired”

The links looked at the older hero with a pity look. This was the man they had known since they started their adventure, the man who helped them when they got hurt, the man who hugged them when they get nightmares.

“Tim- Deity what can we do to help?” Twilight asked the old man whose tears slowly came to a stop.

“I...i can make the hero spirit a new body...but I’ll need magic” the deity said as he gathered his breathing.

“So we’re raising the dead?” Legend asked.

“Awesome!!” Wind yelled out.

Deity couldn’t stop the smile that appeared on his face, he couldn’t stop himself from imaging the little hero of time; playing with the older heroes, being the little gremlin that he was. Deity would find a way to get him back.

He will find a way to make it right.


End file.
